Question

Why were African Americans unable to vote when the Constitution was first drafted?

It was written in the Constitution that they couldn't.
Only free people or legal citizens could vote.
Slave owners wouldn't let them.
They could only vote in state elections.

Answer 1

Explanation:

The 15th Amendment granting African American men the right to vote was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870. Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied African Americans their right to vote under the 15th Amendment.